‘We’ll be New Mexico forevermore,’ governor says after latest Donald Trump jab

Rebuttal came after U.S. president demanded state change its name 'immediately' to create 'great value and prestige'

Published Oct 19, 2026  •  2 minute read

Donald Trump is again demanding that New Mexico change its name to "New America." Photo by Screenshot /https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/

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New Mexico’s Democratic governor has fired back at Donald Trump, suggesting the U.S. president is trying to “distract” Americans by again demanding the state change its name to “New America.”

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In a social media post that concluded with “Viva Nuevo Mexico,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said New Mexico, which was founded as a Spanish colony in 1598 before becoming an American state in 1912, took its name “long before the United States existed and we’ll be New Mexico forevermore.

“This tired New America bit again?” she said in a post alongside an eye roll emoji. “You have to ask — what policy failure is Trump trying to distract Americans from this time?”

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media after signing a proclamation renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” aboard Air Force One on Feb. 9, 2025. Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT /AFP via Getty Images

Trump wants name change ‘immediately’

Lujan Grisham’s comments came a few hours after Trump’s latest social media post on the topic demanded New Mexico change its name “immediately,” citing without evidence that his preferred name would add “great value and prestige” to the state.

“Home Values and Incomes would rise, and you would be even prouder while saluting our beautiful American Flag,” Trump said. “Maybe even the Crooked Elections, that New Mexico is known for, would become honest again!”

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The last comment was refuted by Lujan Grisham, who added, “independent experts say our elections are among the most secure in the nation.

“It’s just that Trump can’t seem to accept that voters are rewarding Democrats for policies that make life easier for working families,” she said.

Since last month, Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of renaming New Mexico to “New America,” although the idea has been dismissed as “far-fetched” with the Washington Post reporting that – unlike bodies of water and “other geographical features” – he lacks the authority to rename states.

“That would probably require action by the state and Congress,” the Post reported. “The president could instruct government agencies to refer to New Mexico under a new name.”

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State lawmakers have pushed back on the idea as well, the Post reported, while a Republican running for Congress there washed his hands of the idea during a Friday debate.

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“It’s not something that’s legislatively possible, so nothing’s going to change,” Greg Cunningham said, via the Post.

This is not the first time  Trump has tried to alter the map to his liking. He recently signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” has done the same with the Gulf of Mexico (rebranded as the “Gulf of America”) and floated a similar idea for the Persian Gulf (“Arabian Gulf.”)

He also signed an executive order early in his second term ordering the federal government to again refer to Alaska’s Denali, the highest peak in North America, as Mount McKinley.

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